Harry S. Truman And The Modern American Presidency Summary

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1. The author of Harry S. Truman and the Modern American Presidency, Robert H. Ferrell, is an American historian and the author of numerous books on President Harry S. Truman and many other American presidents, including President Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge. Robert H. Ferrell’s background includes his service in the United States Army Air Force during the Second World War and as an intelligence analyst in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. Ferrell also received his bachelors in education from Bowling Green State University in 1946 and his PhD from Yale University in 1951, where he was honored with the Addison Porter Prize for his dissertation. Ferrell went on to teach at Indiana University in Bloomington for many years, …show more content…
Robert H. Ferrell’s book, Harry S. Truman and the Modern American Presidency, uses three main points to achieve his purpose to tell a brief yet detailed account of Harry S. Truman, who was the perfect individual to occupy the White House at one of the most critical moments in United States history. Ferrell’s first point is that Harry S. Truman was able overcame the odds in his life to become a humbled individual, which arose from events like his early life as a farmer, as a veteran of World War One, and his persistent debt that even followed him into the White House. Ferrell’s second point is Truman’s accomplishments with civil rights, which is highlighted by President Truman’s establishment of a committee on civil rights in 1946 and the desegregation of the armed forces and the federal work force in 1948. Ferrell’s last point is that President Truman had to deal with many great decisions throughout his presidential career that established him as a great leader, which includes the dropping of two atomic bombs to end World War Two, the Truman Doctrine in 1947, the Marshall Plan in 1948, the handling of the Berlin Airlift from 1948 through 1949, and subsequently the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in